Wednesday, June 24, 2015

What is long term investing? What does it really mean, when someone says that he is a long term investor?

Here, I have to start with a little reveleation. I am a full time retail investor/trader/speculator, who receives my salary from the market. I trade and invest, to be able to cover my familys expenses on a monthly basis. This is a unique situation, in that many people are not full time traders, because most of the market participants are either passive investors through various means, while others have full time jobs as a primary means of income. In my case, it is much more different, and I solely depend on my actions in the markets.

So when I publish a material in here, I don't do it half-heartedly, I write things that genuinely interests me. That is another reason, why I don't publish often here. I have to work, by work I mean I have to analyze and trade stocks on a daily basis. It takes a lot of time and energy, plus I have family responsibilities.

Recently, I have been re-considering (polishing) my investing strategy and thinking about the ways to maximize my earnings. And to do that I follow many different news outlets. In one of them I had been confronted with a person, who insisted that I can't call myself a long term investor. So it got me thinking about this topic. What is the exact definition of long term investor, and why I might not fit the description of a long term investor.

Well, as I have a trading account, I also have an investing account, that I use for longer term opportunities. In the trading account, I don't even consider myself as an investor more like a speculator. On the other hand, in my second account I do analyze companies, and put heavy emphasis on the uniqueness of the situation. So, I guess, it doesn't matter how long one keeps his positions, but what is the mindset of an investor, when he makes a decision on buying or selling. I firmly believe, that wonderful companies, that are bought at right pricess and held for longer time periods make the most sense, but I am not chained to one certain idea, if I have found a better idea somewhere else.